es. He stopped and conferred with her, and said to
her, "Do not thou marry a husband, I will send for thee." With this he
returned to the palace and forgot about his promise. But the poor girl did
not forget. Year after year passed, till at last after eighty years of
waiting she was a very old woman. Then she thought, "My face and form are
lean and withered, there is no longer any hope. Nevertheless, if I do not
show the Heavenly Sovereign how truly I have waited, my disappointment
will be unbearable." And so with such gifts as she could afford she
presented herself before the emperor. He wondering at her and her gifts
asked her, "What old woman art thou, and why art thou come hither?" She
replied, "Having in such and such a month and such and such a year
received the Heavenly Sovereign's commands, I have been reverently
awaiting the great command until this day, and eighty years have passed
by. Now, my appearance is decrepit and there is no longer any hope.
Nevertheless, I have come forth in order to show and declare my
faithfulness." Thereupon the Heavenly Sovereign, greatly agitated,
exclaimed, "I had quite forgotten my command; and thou meanwhile, ever
faithfully awaiting my commands, hast vainly let pass by the years of thy
prime. It is too pitiful." He sent her back to her home with such
consolation as rich gifts could impart.

We give one more of the legends which cling to the name of this emperor.

He was making an imperial progress to the moor of Akizu for the purpose of
hunting. And as he sat down to rest a horse-fly bit his august arm. But
immediately a dragon-fly came and seized the horse-fly and flew away.
Thereupon he composed an august song as follows:

Who is it tells in the great presence that game is lying on the
peak of Womuro, at Mi-Yeshinu? Our Great Lord who tranquilly
carries on the government, being seated on the throne to await the
game, a horse-fly alights on and stings the fleshy part of his arm
fully clad in a sleeve of white stuff, and a dragon-fly quickly
eats up the horse-fly. That it might properly bear its name, the
land of Yamato was called the Island of the Dragon-Fly.(82)

After a long reign Yuriyaku is said in _Kojiki_ to have died at the age of
one hundred and twenty-four.

The son of the Emperor Yuriyaku, Prince Shiraka, succeeded him. He is
known in history as the Emperor Seinei. He lived only five years after his
accession and left no descendan